Traverse roll



Nov. 25, 1969 w, 3,480,217

- TRAVERSE ROLL Filed Aug. 7, 1967 VENTOR. WILLI H. GBRIEN ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,480,217 TRAVERSE ROLL William H. OBrien, Warwick, R.I., assignor to Leesona Corporation, Warwick, R.I., a corporation of Massachusetts Filed Aug. 7, 1967, Ser. No. 658,869 Int. Cl. B65h 57/04 U.S. Cl. 242-43.2 3 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE This invention relates to a traverse roll device for yarn winding apparatus and, more particularly, to such a device having wear resistant portions for guiding a strand of yarn and effectively preventing the strand from damaging the roll.

Throughout the specification the term yarn means all kinds of strand material, either textile or otherwise, and the term package means the product of a winding or twisting machine, whatever its form.

Traverse rolls for guiding a strand of yarn back and forth as the yarn is wound into a package, .are well understood in the textile art. These rolls usually have helical grooves in which the yarn is guided. The grooves are connected at apex intersections at which the traversing direction of the yarn is reversed, and at crossover intersections intermediate the apexes. Edge portions of the roll at the apexes and crossovers are subject to considerable wear as from the strand of yarn abrading or cutting into these edges.

Various expedients have been proposed for retarding wear at these critical edge area portions. For example, it has been proposed to coat such areas with a wear resistant material. Such coatings often fail to adhere well to the base material of the roll body and may be generally inconsistent in thickness and wear resistant capacity. Also, the inherent thinness of the coating limits its useful life since the strand eventually cuts through the coating.

Various types of wear resistant inserts have been proposed for traverse rolls in an attempt to eliminate damage by the yarn to the roll. For example, a relatively large piece of wear resistant material may be inserted into the traverse roll at the areas most subject to wear by the yarn. These large inserts are then machined, as by filing, to conform to the adjacent configurations of the intersecting groove portions. Aside from this expedient requiring considerable machining time, the hardness of such inserts, and therefore their wear resistant capacity, is somewhat limited in order to facilitate the shaping operation. It has also been proposed to provide wear resistant pins having free ends extending into the traverse roll grooves, for receiving the strand of yarn and preventing it from contacting the edges of the traverse roll most susceptible to wear. These free ended pins have an inherent shortcoming in that the strand of yarn may snag around the free end and break or be wound around the traverse roll. Another shortcoming is that many such pins do not guide the strand axially of the roll so the strand may damage lateral edges of the roll body. To overcome this shortcoming, it was thought desirable to provide the free ends of the pins with headed portions shaped in some desired manner. This expedient is obviously costly and raises a further problem in necessitating the head being seated against the groove surface in some manner to eliminate crevices which might snag the strand of yarn. As is understood in the art, any cracks, crevices or other similar opening, as well as protrusions or roughness along the grooves which might snag or abrade the yarn, should be avoided to prevent possible interference with or damage to the strand of yarn.

The invention is, in brief, directed to a traverse roll which overcomes these shortcomings. The traverse roll has an effectively continuous groove and, more particularly, oppositely pitched helical grooves intersecting each other at crossovers and connected at apexes at their ends to guide a strand of yarn back and forth as the strand is wound into a package. Wear resistant pins extend along certain edges of the roll at the intersections, to prevent excessive wear of the roll by the strand of yarn. These pins are preferably supported by the roll body and their opposite ends are tightly seated in opposed face portions of a groove. Further, the pins extend generally in the direction of the edges subject to wear and guide the strand axially of the roll, thus effectively preventing the strand from engaging and damaging these edge portions of the roll body.

It is a primary object of this invention to provide a new and improved yarn guiding device.

Another object of this invention is to provide a new and improved yarn guiding device in the form of a traverse roll having wear resistant elements in areas of the roll most susceptible to damage by a strand of yarn being guided by the device. A related object is provision for mounting such wear resistant elements in a manner effectively preventing undesirable interference with the strand of yarn, and, more particularly, the provision of these elements in the form of pins having opposite ends tightly seated in a body portion of the roll. Still another related object is provision of such pins for guiding the strand in both radial and axial directions relative to the roll.

These and other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description and the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary, schematic view of a portion of a winding machine and shows a conical package and a traverse roll incorporating a preferred embodiment of the invention;

FIGS. 2, 3 and 4 are fragmentary, sectional views taken generally along the lines 22, 33 and 4-4, respectively, in FIG. 1, at a crossover intersection of portions of a groove in the traverse roll; and

FIGS. 5 and 6 are fragmentary, sectional views taken generally along the lines 55 and 6-6, respectively, in FIG. 1, at an apex intersection of portions of the groove.

Referring to FIG. 1 of the drawings, a portion of a Winding machine is shown during winding of a conical package P of yarn which is rotated in the direction of the arrow 10. The package P is in facial driven engagement with a traverse roll R which is rotated in the direction of the arrow 11 to rotate the package P and guide a strand of yarn Y, moving in the direction of the arrow 12, onto the package. The package P is wound on a core 13 removably mounted on a spindle shaft 14 which in turn is suitably mounted (not shown) for movement away from a traverse r-oll R as the diameter of the package increases. The traverse roll R is mounted on a drive shaft 15 for rotation with the drive shaft which defines a longitudinal axis of rotation of the traverse roll.

As shown in FIG. 1, the traverse roll R has a body 16 of any suitable material such as a phenolic or suitable metal such as aluminum. A continuous guide groove G, having portions including a first helical groove 17 and an oppositely pitched second helical groove 18, is formed in the roll body 16. These grooves are connected at apexes 19-1 and 19-2 formed at intersections of their adjacent opposite ends, to form the continuous groove G which receives the strand of yarn and guides it back and forth as it is wound onto the package. Intermediate the apexes there is at least one crossover intersection 20, and in the illustrated traverse roll there are three crossovers (two on the face opposite that shown in FIG. 1). At the crossover 20 shown in FIG. 1, the first groove 17 is shallower than the second groove 18. As is well understood in the art, the grooves preferably have diverging sides and vary in depth. As the strand is guided through the groove 17 it travels from the apex 19-1 to the apex 192, as shown, and when the strand is guided in the groove 18 the strand travels from the apex 19-2 back to the apex 19-1.

In order to effectively prevent the strand of yarn Y from cutting into apex edges, and edges at the crossovers, wear resistant elongated elements, preferably in the form of round pins 21, are provided. These pins include, for

example, pins 211 and 212 (FIGS. 1-4) provided at the crossover 20, and a pin 213 (FIGS. 1, 5 and 6) provided at the apex 19-2. The pins 21 are substantially more resistant than the body material to wear by the strand Y, and may be any suitable material such as hardened steel, or aluminum oxide or other ceramic material.

These wear resistant pins 21 extend generally along edge portions subject to wear at the intersections, and are disposed, as may be seen in the drawings, so that as the strand of yarn rides along a pin it is guided by the pin axially and generally circumferentially of the roll, thus effectively preventing the yarn from contacting the roll body 16 at these edge portions. The longitudinal axes of the pins 21 are disposed so that, relative to the longitudinal axis of the roll R, they each have an axial component which causes the pin to guide the strand generally radially of the roll. Also, the pin axes each have a radial component such that the axis of the pin (as pin 211, 212 and 213) is inclined outwardly generally in the direction of the end of the roll R from which the strand Y is moving when it crosses the pin (the end at apex 19-1 when the strand is in groove 17), so that the pin guides the strand axially of the roll.

For example, near the crossover 20 shown in FIGS. 1-4, as the yarn Y is passing through the first groove 17 it tends to ride along a guiding side surface 22 and along a base or bottom surface 23 connecting the side surface 22 with an opposed side surface 24 of this groove. The yarn Y next rides over an edge portion in the form of the pin 211, which protrudes outwardly from the roll body 16 and into the groove along the bottom surface 23 and the side surface 22, whereupon the yarn jumps the deeper second groove 18 and engages the pin 21-2 before again riding along the guiding side surface 22 and the bottom surface 23. Both of these pins (211 and 212) are generally parallel to the longitudinal direction of the second groove 18 at the intersectipn. The pin 211 extends in the direction of the edge portion defined by the guiding side surface 22 and the bottom surface 23 of the first groove 17 at their intersection with the side surface 25 of the second groove. The pin 212 similarly extends along the edge portion defined by the surfaces 22 and 23 at their intersection with the side surface 26 of the second groove 18.

Near the apex 19-2 shown in FIGS. 1, 5 and 6, the yarn Y is still guided along the guiding side surface 22 of the first groove 17 and then about the pin 213 after which it is guided by the guiding (outer) side surface 25 of the second groove 18. An apex edge portion over which the strand travels follows generally along the guiding side surface 22 of the first groove 17 and the pin 213 extends generally along this edge and along an edge at the juncture of a base surface 23 of the first groove 17 and a base surface 27 of the second groove 18. The longitudinal axes of the pins at the apexes may lie in an axial plane of the roll R and be inclined outwardly toward the center of the roll at between 20 and 50 to the axis of the roll and preferably about 30 for the pin at apex 19-1 and for the pin at apex 19-2.

Mounting of the pins 21 in the roll body 16 is effected by holes drilled through the body 16 in such a manner that, with reference to the crossover 20, for the pin 211 a hole 28 extends from the outer surface of the roll body through a side surface 22 of a groove 17, and an aligned hole or socket 29 extends through the opposed side surface 24. After the pin is seated in the holes, the hole 28 is closed at the outer surface of the roll as by a suitable plug 30, smoothed off to conform to the shape of the outer surface. Thus, each pin is supported in two aligned holes, as 28 and 29, and is tightly seated in the holes to avoid any crevices between the groove surfaces 22 and 24 and the pin 211. An intermediate portion 31 of each pin, for example pin 211, extends through the associated groove, as groove 17, and is preferably nested in a trough shape seat portion or slot, as slot 32, formed in the bottom of the groove during the drilling operation, and extending between the holes, as 28 and 29, and across the base portion 23 of the groove. No machining of the inserted pins 21 is required and the pins are deeply seated in the grooves and protrude slightly from the groove surface.

While this invention has been described and illustrated with reference to a particular embodiment in a particular environment, various changes may be apparent to one skilled in the art, and the invention is therefore not to be limited to such embodiment or environment except as set forth in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A traverse roll for guiding a strand, comprising a body rotatable about an axis and having an end face transverse to said axis and a smooth generally cylindrical surface generally concentric about said axis for drivingly engaging a'package during winding of the package, said body having generally opposed surfaces interconnected by a base surface to define an outwardly opening groove extending about said axis and opening through said cylindrical surface for receiving and guiding the strand, said groove having portions with opposite ends intersecting each other at an edge portion of the body over which the strand is adapted to pass, the intersection being adjacent said end face, and means for receiving the strand and guiding the strand radially and axially of said body at said edge portion and etfectively preventing said strand from damaging said body along said edge portion and including said body having a pair of substantially aligned holes opening through said opposed surfaces of said groove proximate said edge portion, said holes diverging relative to said axis from said end face toward said cylindrical surface and one of said holes extending through said end face for insertion of a pin into said holes and the other of said holes terminating inwardly of said smooth cylindrical surface, whereby the smooth surface is unbroken proximate said end face, and said body having a generally trough-shaped seat portion between said holes and said seat portion extending across said base surface, a substantially straight pin more resistant than said body to wear by said strand, said pin having opposite ends, one tightly received in each of said holes, and said pin having an intermediate portion between said opposite ends, said intermediate portion being in facial engagement with said seat portion and extending outwardly from said base surface and along said edge portion generally in the direction of said edge portion for receiving and guiding said strand.

2. A traverse roll as set forth in claim 1 in which said groove has relatively deep and shallow portions intersecting each other at a cross-over to define a second edge portion of the body over which the strand is adapted to pass, and means for receiving the strand and guiding the strand radially and axially of said body at said second edge portion and effectively preventing said strand from damaging said body along the last said edge portion and including said body having a second pair of substantially aligned holes opening through said opposed surfaces of the shallow groove portion pnoximate said second edge portion, one of the last said holes also opening through another surface of said body for insertion of a pin into the holes, said body having a second generally troughshaped seat portion between said second holes and said second seat portion extending across the base surface of the shallow groove portion, a second substantially straight pin more resistant than said body to wear by said strand, said second pin having opposite ends, one tightly received in each of the last said holes, and said second pin having an intermediate portion between said opposite ends, the last said intermediate portion being in facial engagement with second seat portion and extending outwardly from said base surface of said shallow groove portion and along said second edge portion generally in the direction of said second edge portion for receiving and guiding said strand.

3. A traverse roll for guiding a strand, comprising a body rotatable about an axis and having a generally cylindrical surface generally concentric about said axis for drivingly engaging a package during winding of the package, said body having generally opposed surfaces interconnected by a base surface to define an outwardly opening groove extending about said axis and opening through said cylindrical surface for receiving and guiding the strand, said groove having relatively deep and shallow portions intersecting each other at a cross-over to define an edge portion of the body over which the strand is adapted to pass, and means for receiving the strand and guiding the strand radially and axially of said body at said edge portion and effectively preventing said strand from damaging said body along said edge portion and including said body having a pair of substantially aligned holes opening through said opposed surfaces of the shallow groove proximate said edge portion, one of said holes also opening through another surface of said body for insertion of a pin into the holes, and said body having a generally trough-shaped seat portion between said holes and said seat portion extending across said base surface, a substantially straight pin more resistant than said body to Wear by said strand, said pin having opposite ends, one tightly received in each of said holes, and said pin having an intermediate portion between said opposite ends, said intermediate portion being in facial engagement with said seat portion and extending outwardly from said base surfaces of said shallow groove and along said edge portion generally in the direction of said edge portion for receiving and guiding said strand.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,022,021 2/ 1962 Zollinger 242--43.2 3,346,206 10/1967 Fossen 242-43 .2 3,361,376 1/1968 Wolff 24243.2

FOREIGN PATENTS Ad. 50,368 1/ 1940 France.

708,233 7/ 1941 Germany. 421,779 4/ 1967 Switzerland.

STANLEY N. GILREATH, Primary Examiner 

